A Note on the Suffering of Others
We don't like to see suffering, and so
alleviating it wherever we see it is one of the things we want. Unfortunately,
we expect others to help us pay the cost of relieving the suffering. But I don't see suffering as a total negative. I have suffered at times, and in response I changed myself. Had I not suffered, I wouldn't have changed. In that sense, suffering is an invaluable motivational tool for changing us.
When we relieve someone else of suffering, we take the
risk that they will get themselves into the same mess again - that we have prevented them from changing in a way that makes their life better. We might realize this, but still go ahead and relieve the suffering anyway because we like the effect it has. In fact, if we like the effect enough, we may start to
help people get into such messes so that we can relieve their suffering and benefit from it over and over again. In fact, this is the bread and butter of high-yield credit card companies.
When we cause someone else's suffering, for example by throwing them in jail for whatever reason, we run the risk of having them change in a way that
reflects our motivations, rather than in
a way that improves things. Of course, often they change in a way that improves things
and reflects our motivations. This is the essential mechanism at work when parents punish their children.
So when we consider the suffering of others, let's first ask if the suffering is bearable enough to be allowed to go on while it might be making the sufferer
change for the better. When we can't bear it, let's not
force others to help pay the cost of relieving it - this is what leads to all the taxation used to support
social programs. Instead, let's get together with our
churches, our friends, our neighbors, and anyone else that can't bear it any longer and collect whatever
voluntary contributions we can to alleviate it.
Those who relieve a person's suffering are his
saviors, but if he was about to change in response to his suffering, then they are also
responsible for keeping him down. This is a risk each of us needs to
take on his own. The taxation used to alleviate suffering prevents those
willing to help from being recognized as saviors, prevents those who would choose to let suffering do its motivational work from doing so, and keeps the recipients from becoming more productive toward their own well being.